Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I have been researching starting up my own gun store with an indoor shooting range and gun safety training classes.  After researching costs, I am looking at close to 850K for complete start up.  This includes all equiment required for a 10 lane indoor shooting facility (complete and meeting all safety requirments), initial inventory investment, store requirements (display cases, etc), licenses, insurance, and security needs.

I know this business would make money in the area I live in from researching similar businesses in my state and nationwide.

I am working on completing my business plan and after seeing what kind of start-up capital I am going to need, I am starting to get discouraged.

Friends and family do not have this kind of money to invest in such a business.

Where is the best place to look for this kind of capital needed for a start up?

To get a loan from a bank, you`ll need between 20 and 30% of the capital yourself, and they`ll loan you the remaining 70-80%. When I went to a traditional bank for a business loan they said 25%. So you`ll probably want to come to the banking table with 200k yourself, depending on the bank. Then depending on your plan, they might agree to just loan you the rest.

Those kind of loans wouldn`t work for me because I`m not a homeowner, and I thus didn`t have collateral. I had to go for an unsecured loan. The problem is, these loan programs don`t seem to offer the kind of money you need. 100-200k tops - typically, from what I`ve read. If this kind of deal will help you at all, consider www.thesnaploan.com , www.unsecuredsolutions.com or possibly www.prosper.com - they all offer collateral free loans based on your credit score. People aren`t getting much money from these, as mentioned, but they are getting money.

Getting an investor is all luck. However, if I were you, I`d have a good chat with your local NRA. They`re probably the most likely to back your cause. Gun rights are always on the brink of doom. If you can`t get a grant from the NRA, you might be able to get a very favorable loan. You might meet some worthy investors too. The NRA is a powerful organization with reps in all facets of government. Good luck, though. The business seems like a great idea.

The training classes add no additional expediture, but add revenue to the business.  The indoor shooting facility, from what I have figured so far would be 50%+ of the income of the business.  The main draw would be the range, and that is the main expenditure of the start up costs, well over 2/3 of initial costs.

It costs a lot of money to keep a bullet in a specific area.

I do have equity in my home, but not 20% of what I would need to get my business started.

Thanks for the links to possible lenders.  I will check them out.

http://www.friendsofnra.org/National.aspx?cid=9

Even if there`s nothing listed, at least it shows that the organization isn`t opposed to giving money to gun related programs. I got an investor by knowing the right people. I`m sure you can do the same.